Animagi, Detectives, and Orphans-- Jack of Hearts
by Padfoot
Summary: A man sits in a bar, enter the detective, away they go, and enter a disgruntled Gryffindor orphan… And it’s not Harry… PG is because it’s not G. No cussing, no romance, YET!, no bad stuff, just a PG story. I mean it’s half set in a bar! 1:3


**Animagi, Detectives, and Orphans—Part 1: Jack of Hearts**   
**Unfortunately it's really strange…**   
**Rated: PG**   
**Genre: Drama**   
**Description: A man sits in a bar, enter the detective, away they go, and enter a disgruntled Gryffindor orphan… And it's not Harry… PG is because it's not G. No cussing, no romance, YET!, no bad stuff, just a PG story. I mean it's half set in a bar!**   


_Padfoot is me. Word to the wise, I'm out of free advise._

A man sat in a bar, drinking his fifth shot of red wine. It seemed odd. The bartender worked had worked nights for twenty years and never had he seen anyone like "Sam." Sam had black hair, a raggedy shave, and deep, pained eyes. He always ordered seven shot glasses of chilled red wine and would play the bar-goers in their games of cards.

He wasn't noisy, he was mellow. He always won. People who didn't know him lost oodles to him. And he just sat there, never cracking his sorrowful frown. Tonight, Sam was playing a man from a Vegas hotel, and currently the poker chips were piling in Sam's favor.

Sam slid his final hand down, collected his winnings and left, ratty leather jacket whipping in the wind, as large tears were left un-darned. And one night Sam didn't come. And for more than a week, the red wine was left untouched.

He came back after a fortnight or so. Sam ordered his usual and played a game of cards, winning enough off the usuals to pay for a burger. As he chewed listlessly on the burger, a woman came in, a dark cape hanging over her head. The wind had been howling, and the rain threatened to blow the tavern to the foundation.

The summer storm raged and the woman walked up to the bartender, a scowl gliding on her lips.

"Who is he?"

"We call him Sam. I don't think it's his name."

"What do you know about him?"

"Nothing. He's never uttered more than his order."

"Has he ever not came?"

"Round the last week in May, first of June he was gone. And scattered around, no more than two or three days." The strange woman drew her cloak and nodded.

"Thank you. I hope you won't miss Mr. Black that much. She pulled out manacles and forced Sam out the door and into her car, an unmarked Ministry vehicle. Forced was an overstatement, Sam didn't struggle.

Sam's eyes flashed in her rearview mirror as she drove through the torrents. "What do you want from me?" Sam begged, his eyes taking in the inside of her car.

"I am Detective K. L. Rawlings of the Ministry of Magic. Magical Law Enforcement. And I know who you are, Sirius."

"What about my Miranda rights?" Sam growled, not breaking his act.

"You are a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, not the United States."

"What will happen to me?"

"I don't believe Azkaban will be of any use to us, Sirius. I'm hoping Mr. Dumbledore will have a place for you."

"At Hogwarts?" Sam realized he had practically confessed and drew back, cringing.

"Yes, Sirius. I believe it will be much more suited to your crimes."

"But…" Sam trailed off, still holding his lucky card, the Jack of Hearts.

"If you would just tell me who you are, for me to know for sure, I could speed this trip up considerably."

Sam looked murderous. "Although I am innocent of crimes convicted of, my name is Sirius Joseph Black."

"Thank you Sirius. You recall how to apparate?"

"Yes." And K.L. Rawlings handed him a wand. And as Rawlings realized, this was not a fatal or stupid mistake, but a lifesaving trick.

Sirius muttered the "magic words," and both he and Detective Rawlings were gone, the car left abandoned, empty of any identifying marks, on a highway leading to Avon.

The place where they landed was not the end of their journey, but it was simplified by the arrival of Minerva McGonagall, the stern-faced Transfiguration teacher.

Minerva looked disturbed at the sight of K.L. Rawlings and Sirius Black. "The Headmaster awaits you arrival, Rawlings, and I suppose that someone else wishes to see you, Black." The way Minerva said Black should one, tip you off that something is up between the two of them, and two, tip you off that Minerva McGonagall's name hadn't been McGonagall for the first seventeen years of her life, but she isn't really saying it, I just asked her to. So, you can't interpret that without me telling you so.

A student of Hogwarts was standing in a breezy corner of the great hall. From the distance, Sirius couldn't tell whether it was male or female, much less his house, name, age, or anything that would tip him off as to who he was about to talk to, before meeting again with Professor Dumbledore.

I will take an opportunity to tell you just who is in the shadows. Harry actually does know her, but she's never appeared in the official books. She is just a seventh year compared to Harry's 4th year status, a friend of River Blake, and the eventual bride of Charlie Weasley. She has (how strange!) purple hair, an eyebrow ring, two tattoos on her face, a star and a lightning bolt intertwined with an 'S,' and deep blue-green eyes, which appeared purple from the makeup she wore.

This is Melissa Ophelia Black. Unbeknownst to Mel, K.L. Rawlings, and Sirius Black, they share their blood. As Sirius doesn't know, the mysterious K.L. Rawlings is actually Kari Lauren Rawlings, a familiar face, and one-time fiancé of Sirius Black (who has had about a million, counting everyone's thoughts and mentioned characters). Let's just say, in laymen's terms, Melissa is Kari's daughter. And Black rings up my little endeavor.

::Padfoot has now officially gone to sleep::

::After a very interesting breakfast and uncomfortable night of sleep, Padfoot awakes and rushes to her Aunt's computer::

Mel watched as Rawlings departed, her arms swinging as she headed for the Charms corridor, where she was meeting Professor Flitwick for a meeting. K.L. isn't a teacher, she is a detective. And Flitwick just happens to have quite a bit to do with our story later on, so I'll let you mull on what they are doing.

::Padfoot has a sudden eye opener and considers changing that last line. They are meeting, nothing else…::

Sirius sat down at a chair at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Memories danced through his mind, of long nights in the common room, miserable days crying into Kari's shoulder. His on comfort, his place to let his feelings go. He had seemed strong and happy, what everyone wanted in life, but he had his problems and he didn't have anyone to talk to; except Kari. After disastrous dates, horrible girlfriends, frightful break-ups, she was always there, listening and feeling his pain.

And then school was over, they went there separate ways. But they got back together, but fate ripped them apart with only one mis-aimed shot at keeping them together. That baby… They had put her up for adoption, Sirius had fled and Kari had gone to work for the Ministry. But he never knew what happened to his daughter…

The girl standing in the shadows was a Gryffindor, many in her year thought she had the world record for longest time wearing the sorting hat... over eight minutes it mulled, twisting her thoughts and talking to her...

"Not Hufflepuff, you are bold and courageous… Not Ravenclaw, your logic leans in other directions… Gryffindor would be the obvious, Slytherin would be for you. You have quite a degree of everything that Salazar and Godric would have wanted, quite equally, but where your heart lies you try to hide, the reason I don't put you where your blood lies…why do you hide it, do you not know? Two Gryffindors of fateful matching, one on the run, one running from nothing… Where do you go, Ms. Black? Gryffindor or Slytherin, which one would be your match?"

It had finally put her in Gryffindor, the Gryffindors looked shocked, and the Slytherins looked triumphed. She never felt exactly right, the Gryffindors didn't have the things she had, like the devious thoughts that nearly overrode her conscience. She just didn't know where she belonged…

Sirius stared at the shadow, even in the mysteriousness he couldn't feel right. He hung his head and rubbed his temples. But he was thinking, his mind wouldn't stop. K.L. Rawlings had blown his cover, that not happy but livable life as a car-player. And he reached in his pocket, a now instinctive habit, and pulled out the card—the Jack of Hearts.

K.L. Rawlings returned, almost an hour later, the girl in the shadows hadn't moved, nor did Sirius. She motioned towards the door to Dumbledore's office, and he walked, head hung up the moving spiral staircase.

"Lemondrop." K.L. said, Sirius brushed back his moptop. And they faced the world's greatest magician. Albus looked up; his bright blue eyes twinkled.

"Hello Sirius, Kari." Sirius whirled around his brown eyes flashing.

"Kari? What kind of sick joke is this?" Sirius yelped, his words sounding quite canine…

Kari bit her lip, it had been troubling her since she was assigned the task of getting Sirius Black into Hogwarts. She knew Dumbledore had asked for her, just intuition. Sirius looked angry, mad, malicious, fiery… words kept popping into her mind.

"Sirius…" She started, but Dumbledore cut her off.

"Thank you Kari, you can leave us. And you Sirius…" Dumbledore waved a hand to draw up a chair for him.

Sirius sat, his extremities trembling. He plopped down, energy feeling drained.

"I know what Harry Potter and Hermione Granger have told me. It matches with your story. But there is no proof. Kari knows you will never live your life exactly the same, especially without James and err… Lily." Dumbledore knew Sirius's feelings about Lily. He had never cared for her. She was the stuck-up Slytherin who had told him off when he went out with a fellow Slytherin, Jana Grant. "I know that your case won't be provable against the Ministry, so I am offering you a job here, with my complete protection and all powers diverted to giving you a powerful enough alias that no student or teacher will suspect you. I know you need a life."

Sirius looked shocked. "What would I do?"

"I seem to understand that Madam Hooch has been hinting about wanting to retire. I know you are quite skilled on a broom. Would you like to be our flying and Quidditch instructor?"

Sirius sat back in shock. Here he was, the most wanted criminal in the world, being offered a job at the most famous wizarding school in the world, overseeing Quidditch matches and teaching kids how to fly.

"Sure." Sirius said quickly. It sure beat life on the lam.

**_The End of Part One of Three_**

A/N. What on earth does this story mean. What genre? What title? I'm not sure, so I'm going to use whatever pops in my mind first. Jack of Hearts for this part, the next I think I'll call "More Memories and a Quidditch Match." The third will be the conclusion. I don't know where this will end, put if I get good reviews, I'll work really hard on the next two parts. What about the mini-series? It needs a name.

**_PADFOOT THE WANDERER_**   



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